The Ultimate Chili Con Carne.

I'll eat chilli con carne if it's put in front of me but I'd never ordinarily go out of my way to order/cook it.  Or that was the case until a couple of years ago - when we were still in our early days of romancing, the hubbie made me a truly delicious chili in a VW campervan.

Although the novelty of being in a campervan on the north Norfolk coast (and being in new-found love with a very handsome doctor) probably meant that I would have found anything he cooked as completely wonderful, it did open up my eyes to the place chili con carne has in a cooking repertoire.  It is a quick and easy use for mince that doesn't involve layers of pasta, on a cold rainy night it certainly warms the cockles, and wonderfully you can cook it over a single gas burner in a field - although I'd recommend mixing up the spices at home first rather than lugging all the pots with you.  I like to serve mine with rice, sour cream and guacamole, although a hunk of crusty bread would work just as well.

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
100 g smoked back bacon, chopped into strips horizontally
500 g lean free-range beef mince
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
2 large brown mushrooms, finely sliced
1 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 20cm stick cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp chili powder
a dash of tabasco (optional)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
70 g tomato puree
2 dsp balsamic vinegar
2 dsp treacle/muscavado sugar
1 tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
salt and black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes over a moderate heat or until soft and translucent but not coloured.
2. Add the mince and bacon to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, or until browned.

3. Add the mushrooms and red chili to the pan and cook for 3 minutes, stirring.
4. Add the spices, cocoa and cook for a further minute, then add the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, vinegar and sugar.  Season and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat and pop in the lid, allow to smmer away for 30 minutes.

5. Add the red kidney beans and heat through, stirring.

Either remove from the heat, allow to cool and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before eating (the flavours often get better over 24 hours), or serve immediately with rice and perhaps some guacamole and sour cream.

Scrummy.